Parliament – Parliament’s Constitutional Review Committee will recommend that South Africa’s founding document be amended to allow for the explicit expropriation of land without compensation following a vote on Thursday.

Following months of public hearings and hundreds of thousands of submissions on the emotive issue, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) presented its recommendations which should be included in a draft report.

EFF leader Julius Malema read out the recommendation: “That section 25 of the Constitution must be amended to make explicit that which is implicit in the Constitution, with regards to the Expropriation of Land without Compensation, as a legitimate option for land reform, so as to address the historic wrongs caused by the arbitrary disposession of land, and in so doing ensure equitable access to land and further empower the majority of South Africans to be productive participants in ownership, food security and agricultural reform programs.”

The proposed recommendation was supported by the African National Congress and National Freedom Party and when a vote was called it passed with 12 votes to four.

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Parliament’s Constitutional Review Committee will recommend that South Africa’s founding document be amended to allow for the explicit expropriation of land without compensation following a vote on Thursday. Video: Chantall Presence/ANA

A counter proposal on final recommendations by the Democratic Alliance was dismissed by the same vote margin. The party insists that the section of the Constitution that deals with property rights “adequately allow for progressive land reform, restitution and protection of tenure of security and land rights”.